ORGANIZING THE BACK-TO-SCHOOL, ART, PAPERWORK, ETC. + ETC. + ETC.

Back to school time brings lots of take-home papers, “Good job” assignments, and the priceless works of art that you have all intentions of treasuring forever! Trying to keep it all sorted, stay organized, and be stylish is a challenge faced by many, but thankfully some savvy experts have come up with a few ways to help you “have your cake and eat it too” – at least when it comes to this dilemma!

In this month’s “how-to” blog post, we are going to share our top 5 picks for how to stylishly sort the endless back-to-school papers and display your little artist’s beautiful creations!

1. We love this rustic art wall by “Craving Some Creativity”. The stained wood boards are ideal for durability and style! On each board, they have simply placed eyelet screws and hung string wire from them; making this a fairly easy project if you purchase the wood already stained. This option is also great if you want to customize the vibes and maybe do a white shiplap style for a darker colored wall. This pick is also one of our favs because swapping out pictures is quick, plus each panel can also be dedicated to an individual child if you have more than one kiddo to hang mementos for!

2. This file box organization is a life hack for sure! We love how “Simply Kierste” put together this EASY to create and EASY to maintain system for storing the plethora of papers that are brought home during the school year! One excellent feature about this idea is that you can keep all the school years together… making it convenient for storage – PLUS, it also forces you to pick and choose which items to make a keepsake and which to secretly recycle! We promise… it is PERFECTLY FINE to not keep them all! Even though we only picked our top 5 for this post, we read through SO many and every blogger, expert, momma, etc. agreed – YOU CAN’T KEEP THEM ALL.

3. So, this pick can get intricate or be relatively easy with help from a friend on Etsy! This image from Childhood 101 actually displays handpainted frames! Wait… don’t dismiss this option yet, because electing to use pre-cut vinyl frames is beyond simple, and the best part is that it is very versatile and low commitment – meaning this would be a great option if you are currently leasing your home. These days most of the vinyl adhesives are removable, so no large holes in the walls! Plus, they come in all shapes and colors too – you could even change up the color for the seasons!

4. We heart this multi-step organization system by iHeart Organizing! Not only are we obsessed with the colorful printables included in this project, we love how simple everything is to look this amazing! Your unpacking the backpack routine just became so much easier + time friendly! This option can also be incorporated with other art displays such as our 5th pick! Viewing it in real time it could go something like this… 1. unpack 2. stick in the cubby 3. end of the week sort the keepers 4. swap out the weekly displays to any new artwork!

5. It’s the famous art wall! We’ve probably have all seen some rendition of the “art wall”, but we love how this specific project incorporates the kids even more! Design Improvised didn’t just make a beautiful art wall, her family helped to design the radical clothespins used to hang the art! Honestly, though, we have come across some amazing ideas for clothespins alone… like ones that look like butterflies, ladybugs, alligators, and more – but we will save all that for another day! As our 5th and final pick, we have to tell you, not only can this option be done in minutes, it also can be combined with the other options we have shared, it allows for artwork to be swapped out easily, it can be used for multiple children, and it can be implemented almost anywhere in your home!